Tower blocks, Edmonton, London – DSC06928. The town forms part of the ceremonial county of Greater London and until 1965 was in the ancient county edmonton cooks recipes Middlesex. In 1795, the town gave its name to Fort Edmonton, which grew and evolved into the city of Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta, Canada. Charing Cross and stretches from just south of the North Circular Road, where it borders Tottenham, to its boundary with Ponders End to the north.
The old highway Ermine Street passed through what is today Edmonton. Ermine Street was the main Roman road from London to Lincoln and on to York. The population of this area grew rapidly, reaching 445,875 by 1911 and would today be about 615,000. Pymmes Park with its historic walled garden is Upper Edmonton’s park. Pymmes Park originated as a private estate.
In the late 16th century it was owned by the powerful Cecil family. In 1589 Robert Cecil, later 1st Earl of Salisbury, spent his honeymoon at Pymmes. In the 17th century the then rural Edmonton had a reputation for supernatural activities. In approximately 1600, a play entitled The Merry Devil of Edmonton was performed in London about a wizard who lived there. The historic All Saints’ Church is situated in Church Street as is Lamb’s Cottage, which was home to writers Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb. John Keats, the poet, was apprenticed to surgeon Dr. Hammond in Church Street between 1810 and 1816.
The house was demolished in 1931 to be replaced by Keats Parade. An extant shop carries a blue plaque in commemoration. Edmonton was the home town of Sir James Winter Lake, director of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Gilpin’s spouse decides she and her husband should spend their twentieth wedding anniversary at The Bell Inn, Fore Street, Edmonton. The journey is beset with misfortune from start to finish.
On the return journey, Gilpin is still unable to handle his steed, as he once again he fails to stop at The Bell. Gilpin is remembered in Edmonton by the statue at Fore Street, the ex-Wetherspoons outlet the Gilpin’s Bell public house opposite the site of the original inn and the 1950s council housing Gilpin House in Upper Fore Street. Edmonton was home to many industries which included manufacturing of gas appliances, electrical components and furniture. Most of this was lost in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Eley Industrial Estate was named after Eley Brothers the firearms cartridge manufacturer. Its shot tower was a distinctive landmark on the skyline until being demolished the late twentieth century. The railway arrived in 1840 with the opening of the first section of the Lea Valley Line from Stratford to Broxbourne. The single-track line from a junction just north of Angel Road to Enfield Town opened on 1 March 1849, with an intermediate single-platform station at Lower Edmonton, located at the edge of the village green. Edmonton’s population grew with the opening of the high level railway at Edmonton Green station in 1872. The stations were well sited and offered exceptionally cheap workmen’s fares of just 2d on trains arriving at Liverpool Street prior to 07:00, 3d on those arriving between 07:00 and 07:30, and half-price returns on those arriving between 07:30 and 08:00. A horse tramway along Fore Street opened in 1881.
The tramway was re-constructed and electrified during 1905, lasting until 1938 when trolley buses took over. By the 1930s the area had become a major shopping destination drawing visitors from a wide catchment area. The early post war years saw much of the area in a run down state. There was also an acute housing shortage.